Fall in NYC

To be honest, I was skeptical of moving to New York City. I come from a small (and quite quaint, might I add)town in the Great Midwest and the idea of moving to this noisy, busy place downright scared me. In multiple ways. I had a great summer, don't get me wrong, but still never had the groundbreaking realization about why 8 million people have also decided to live here. And then, just recently, I figured out.

Fall in New York City is spectacular. Seriously. It is a different sort of autumnal experience. It is not the sort of experience where you can go on deep-forest nature walks in dew-soaked grass, colored leaves around you, and a scarf around your neck. No, this sensation is crisper and, yet, harder to describe.

This is the time and the place where you can go to a farmer's market on a Sunday morning and pick from a dozen apple varieties with people from all over the city and the world. And then walk 200 feet over to the Museum of Natural History and learn about the history of the solar system.

This is the time and the place where you can spend an evening at the MET and learn about almost every facet of world culture over the past 800 years. And then you can walk 500 feet over to Central park, scarf around your neck that you just bought from a street cart for $5, and observe all of the colored mini sailboats in Conservatory Park--knowing that this may be the very last weekend for some time that these boats will set sail.

And this is the same city where you can stand at Morningside Drive and 115th street, look East, and drink in the huge expanse of varied Harlem architecture. Surrounding you are the colored and falling leaves from Morningside Park and the beautiful Columbia University campus.

Seriously, if you can look past trash at your feet and smog in the sky, the picture becomes complete: Fall in New York City is spectacular.